


In the Blood

by fayedartmouth



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Team Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-29
Updated: 2014-04-29
Packaged: 2018-01-21 05:19:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1539164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fayedartmouth/pseuds/fayedartmouth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Man can bleed a whole lot more than that.  Always seems like more than it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Blood

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the Magnificent 7.
> 
> A/N: So I watched the Magnificent 7 way back in the 90s when it first aired. I was in high school and fangirled it pretty hard. I even wrote some fic that I never did anything with. Now, all these years later, I’m writing it again. I blame postfallen. Everything is her fault.

There's blood.

It's all over his hands, coating his fingernails. JD reaches up to push his hair out of his face and it smears on his cheek. His shirt is splattered; the knees of his pants are soaked.

And beneath it all, Buck is still and colorless, face turned up to the desert sun.

JD shudders, and wants to run but he finds he can't. He can't do anything.

There's just so much blood.

"Nathan," he chokes, blinking back tears as best he can. "How can someone bleed that much? Can someone bleed that much?"

Nathan's face is grim, even as he douses his knife with alcohol. "Man can bleed a whole lot more than that," he says. "Always seems like more than it is."

JD's stomach twists and he feels shaky. "So he's okay?" he asks haltingly.

Expression pinched, Nathan moves back to Buck. The older man's shirt has been torn away, exposing the gunshot in his shoulder. "If it had hit something vital, he'd be dead by now," the healer explains.

JD blanches, and he tries not to remember that firefight that led to this. The ambush Buck had seen coming a mile away. They'd got most of the outlaws, no troubles. But JD hadn't thought about a sniper to the west side of the canyon. Buck had yelled and pulled JD down. Getting up, that's when JD had first seen the blood.

It'd been bad from the start, but within minutes Buck had gone pale. By the time JD had secured the prisoners, Buck had been passed out and Nathan had been preparing to cut the bullet out.

"Just be ready with the bandage," Nathan advises. "Once we get the bullet out, you're going to have to press real hard. If he loses much more blood...."

JD's eyes widen. "What?" he asks. "If he loses much more blood, then what?"

Nathan gives him a look. "Then you'll see how much blood it takes to kill a man."

JD blinks, his entire body going numb. "But...I--"

Shaking his head, Nathan steadies himself. "Just be ready," he advises. "I'm going to move fast--"

With a shaky nod, JD reminds himself that he's seen the seven pull off the impossible before. Buck's full of surprises, especially under pressure. Buck teases JD, he pranks JD, he makes fun of JD, but he's never let JD down.

Now it's JD's turn.

"Okay," he says, with growing resolve. "I can do this."

Nathan says nothing, but blows out a breath and starts to cut. The fresh incision in the skin wells with more blood, thick and red as it oozes down the exposed skin of Buck's shoulder. It runs in rivulets, pooling on the ground, and JD's so transfixed that he's half surprised when Nathan pulls out a battered bullet, still glistening red. 

"That's it," Nathan says. "If you can--"

He doesn't have to finish, though. JD presses down, using all his weight to put pressure on the wound. Beneath his ministrations, Buck doesn't so much as flinch, and even when he feels the blood start to soak through the fabric, he doesn't let go.

He won't let go.

Because friends take bullets for each other. Friends hold back the flow of blood. Friends never quit.

There's blood. Fought for and gained; lost and earned. There's just so much blood between them.

As JD holds fast, he thinks maybe that's the point.


End file.
